Ottawa wants new watchdog to oversee border services
With questions still swirling around the death of a man at the Calgary airport last week, the federal government says it will push ahead with plans to create a watchdog to handle complaints levelled at the Canada Border Services Agency.
A spokesperson for Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale told Postmedia that the government is working to ensure border services are “worthy of the trust of Canadians.”
“We are working on separate legislation to create an appropriate mechanism to review CBSA officer conduct and conditions, and handle specific complaints,” said Scott Bardsley, Public Safety spokesperson.
Bolante (also known to friends as Bolanle) Idowu Alo, 49, died in the custody of CBSA officers while being deported from the country last Tuesday.
The Nigerian man, who said he feared for his life if forced to return home, was being escorted by border agents on a KLM flight headed for Amsterdam when an altercation forced the plane to return to the gate.
Alo was found in medical distress and rushed to hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Elias Munshya — who identified himself as a lawyer representing Alo’s wife and children — said while it’s “positive” that the federal government is proceeding with a plan to create oversight for the CBSA, the move could have little bearing on his client’s situation.
“The family wants to get to the bottom of this. Get to know the truth and let the facts lead the next steps,” Munshya said.
“Mrs. Alo only got to know of this death on Saturday. She is still in mourning. She is very anxious for now to know what exactly happened.
“And once that is established, she’ll then know what next steps to take.”
Calgary police homicide investigators are heading an investigation into Alo’s death that is expected to take as long as six months.
Civil liberties advocates and refugee lawyers have called for an independent investigation into the incident and an investigation by the province’s chief medical examiner.
While provincial law typically requires the medical examiner to investigate deaths that occur in detention or government care, the province was unable to clarify by press time if the rules apply to deaths that occur in CBSA custody.
Immigration documents obtained by Postmedia suggest Alo had been living in Canada since arriving in Ontario in October 2005 when he made a refugee claim that was ultimately rejected by the government.
The 49-year-old had been living and working in Calgary in recent years when he finally exhausted all legal avenues to remain in the country and was facing a period of detention by CBSA ahead of his Aug. 7 departure.
Detention hearing documents suggest authorities were concerned that the previously co-operative Alo was becoming more resistant the closer it came to his removal date.
Alo told a detention hearing on July 26 that “going to Nigeria is like walking me into my death.”
“I’ve never asked for money or housing, never for any assistance. I have been working to support myself all this while and I’ve not committed any crime or bad things,” Alo told the hearing.
“The only thing I’m asking is protection.”